## **Lincolnshire Beekeepers Association**
## **Trustees’ Annual Report and Accounts**
## **for the year ending 31 December 2023**
Page
- 2 Administrative Information 4 Trustees’ Annual Report
- 7 Receipts & Payments
- 8 Statement of Assets & Liabilities
- 9 Notes to the Accounts
- 11 Independent Examiner’s Report
## **Lincolnshire Beekeepers Association**
## **Administrative Information**
**Working name** LBKA **Charity registration number** 500360 **Honorary Patron** Francis Dymoke **Honorary President** Gill Smith
**Trustees** (currently and for the whole period reported unless shown otherwise)
Charity Officers and LBKA trustees:
|Chair|Iain Burnley||
|---|---|---|
|Vice Chair|Chris Arlett-Johnson||
|Secretary|Matthew Palmer - co-opt July 2023||
|Treasurer|Catherine Lake||
|Membership Secretary|Graham Luckhurst||
|Lincolnshire Show Committee Secretary||Richard Harrison resigned April 2023|
|||Dale Gibson from April 2023|
District Representatives and LBKA trustees:
|Lincoln|Neill Gardener|
|---|---|
|Boston|Peter Vergedaal|
|Louth|Dale Gibson from Jan 2023|
|Horncastle|Graham Carrott|
|North Lincs|Frances Ross|
|Market Rasen|Neil Duff from Jan 2023|
|Grimsby|Vacant|
|Grantham|Bill Mahon from Sept 2023|
|Sleaford|Keith Baker|
|Wragby|Gill Smith|
Other elected posts
(If marked € are Central Council members but neither trustees nor voting members in the capacity below.)
Page 2
## **Lincolnshire Beekeepers Association**
Examinations Officer Education Secretary ADM Delegate
Andy Cursons € Andy Cursons € Simon Castleman €
Other posts
Lincolnshire Show Committee Treasurer Diane Harrison Safeguarding Officer Guy Williams Asian Hornet Co-ordinator Stuart Maher Publicity Officer Keith Baker Website Administrator Vacant
**Principal contact address**
The Lodge, Rennisons Carr Farm Elsham Carr Road, Elsham Lincolnshire DN20 0BF
**Email** secretary@lincolnshirebeekeepers.org.uk **Website** https://www.lincolnshirebeekeeprs.org.uk Mr B. Gibbon BSc. Hons ACMA CGMA
**Independent Examiner**
Page 3
## **Lincolnshire Beekeepers Association**
## **Central Council Trustees’ Annual Report**
Lincolnshire Beekeepers Association (LBKA) is an unincorporated charity originally constituted on 18 March 1967 and registered with the Charity Commission (number 500360) on 21 September 1970. Its constitution was last amended 15 March 2020.
LBKA Central Council submits the Trustees’ Annual Report and consolidated accounts, for the charity, its ten districts and annual honey show, covering the year ending 31 December 2023.
LBKA is affiliated to the British Beekeepers Association (BBKA), also a charity.
## **Objectives**
The main objectives of LBKA are to:
- Encourage, improve, and advance apiculture, primarily but not exclusively within Lincolnshire, to the public good.
- Advance the awareness of the public in the importance of bees in the environment.
## **Public Benefit**
The trustees are aware of the Charity Commission’s public benefit guidance and have taken it into account when exercising any powers or duties to which the guidance is relevant.
## **Review of activities during the year**
LBKA activities were all back to normal after the disruption of covid over the last few years. Central Council meetings continue to be held both via zoom and in person and the AGM was held in April via zoom.
The beekeeping tent at the Lincolnshire show in June, was the highlight of the year for many and it is still one of the most visited tents on the showground. It incorporates both our annual honey show and a fantastic display of all aspects of beekeeping, making it very accessible to the public.
Within the region of 60,000 visitors attend the Lincolnshire Show, it allows us the opportunity to demonstrate and educate them by presenting the art of beekeeping, giving everyone the possibility to see bees inside a hive, how bees and beekeepers produce honey and other hive products and the opportunity if interested, to join one of the 10 districts, with many beekeepers’ present giving advice and answering their questions.
Honey show entries were slightly higher than last year at 441 entries in 53 classes covering; honey, wax, mead, photography, baking and confectionary. As with last year this qualified the show as a British Beekeepers Association (BBKA) Blue Ribbon Event. Both judges were very complementary on the number and standard of entries.
Many thanks must also go to Dale Gibson in his first year as Show Secretary and the many volunteers in setting up and manning the tent over the two days.
Education has been gaining momentum during 2023 headed up by Andy Curson and continues to be an important part of membership activity. Details of the achievements of the districts in 2023 can be found below.
**District** Sleaford Boston
**Exam and Number taken per district** Honey Bee Health x 3 Basic Assessment x 4 Honey Bee Health x 2
Market Rasen
Module 8 x 1
Page 4
## **Lincolnshire Beekeepers Association**
Honey Bee Health x 1 Basic Assessment x 2 Advanced Theory x 1
Louth
Basic Assessment x 3
Horncastle
Basic Assessment x 3 Module 7 x 1
Honey Bee Health x 4
North Lincs.
Basic Assessment x 4
Grimsby
Honey Bee Health x 1 Module 1 x 1 Module 3 x 1
Grantham
Honey Bee Health x 1 Basic Assessment x 5
Lincoln
Honey Bee Health x 1 Module 1 x 1
A total of 41 assessments were taken across all districts achieving 21 passes, 15 credits and 5 distinctions, which is double the number taking the exams and achieving pass or above from 2022. A huge congratulations to all candidates and as well as thanks to Andy for all the organising and coordinating with BBKA, thanks must also go to Celia for once again organising and mentoring the participants in the modules and along with Eddy and Kevin for giving up their time to be BBKA Assessors.
The Leslie Thorne Award was presented this year to Ada Pederson. It is presented by the Thorne family in memory of the late Leslie Thorne, former LBKA President, to encourage and support young beekeepers within LBKA. Ada is 8 years old and has been helping her mum keep their bees since spring 2020. She is calm and gentle around the bees and genuinely fascinated in learning about them. Ada happily gets stuck into any tasks at their small 4 hive apiary and is confident removing and replacing brood frames and can identify different stages of growth and what stores are available to the bees. She can identify the queen, drones and workers and absolutely loves to see the brand-new bees emerging from their cells. Ada was presented with a new hive and certificate.
Districts have been out and about in the county this year with Louth and Horncastle attending the Revesby show, Market Rasen attending Countryside Lincs in April at the Lincolnshire Showground and Open Farm Sunday in June. Horncastle also attended the Woodhall Spa show in May. North Lincs district have been busy and attended 4 local shows this year at Messingham, Crowle, Winterton and Epworth.
North Lincs joined with Beverley and Halifax beekeepers this year and ran a bee health day for the 3 districts which was well attended by their members.
Most of the districts ran successful beginners courses this year at Market Rasen, Louth, North Lincs, Horncastle, Sleaford, and Boston. With most attendees going on to join LBKA.
Boston also ran their 1[st] taster day at the new apiary and an ‘introduction to beekeeping’ and ‘products of the hive’ which are both 1-day courses. North Sea Camp Boston open prison has expressed an interest in keeping bees and the Farm manager has been involved in setting this up/training with the Boston district.
Page 5
## **Lincolnshire Beekeepers Association**
During the winter months all districts had a full calendar of speakers and these were well attended and now open to all LBKA members.
The threat of the Asian Hornet has been widely publicised in 2023 with the main bulk of the live sightings on the south coast of the UK. In Lincolnshire we are not immune to the fact that the arrival in our county of the Asian Hornet is not if but when. There has been concerted efforts throughout LBKA to raise awareness not only with members and how to spot and report the threat, but also to the public. A fantastic media briefing was written by Brittany Taylor-Kirk and along with Stewart Maher our Asian hornet coordinator ramped up the publicity around the awareness through radio and the printed media. This is expected to continue in 2024. Thank you to Stewart for all his work in this area.
In 2023 LBKA launched a new website after having lost their website in 2022. Its aim is to educate and inform the public of all the activity in Lincolnshire and point them in in the direction of their local district for more information. It is also there to assist and guide members to everything that is happening in the county.
Finally, all at LBKA were saddened to hear of the death of our Patron Francis Dymoke at the end of 2023. Many beekeepers will have met him when he presented the prizes at the honey show and deepest sympathies were sent to his family and friends.
## **Reserves policy**
Unrestricted financial reserves of the charity continued to increase and stood at £77.1K at 31 December 2023 (£73.7k at 31 December 2022), comprising monies held centrally and those distributed across its ten district branches and the honey show committee.
In the past Central Council has considered, but never formally ratified, a charity reserves policy of holding sufficient funds to cover 18 months’ normal running costs excluding self-funded items such as subscriptions and bulk purchases resold to members. LBKA’s consolidated unrestricted reserves at the year-end were equivalent to 38 months’ coverage on that basis, so the charity is in a very strong position to carry out its primary objectives.
## **Administrative responsibilities**
The charity’s trustees comprise its 6 officers (as listed above), one representative for each of its 10 districts. These trustees are elected, as appropriate, at either its central or districts’ Annual General Meetings to serve until the next AGM. Additional members to fill casual vacancies or otherwise may be co-opted during the year. The names of the current trustees and all who have served as trustees during the year being reported, are shown on page 2.
LBKA Central Council comprises its trustees and additional post holders, who are not trustees, elected at the charity’s AGM or co-opted. Whilst Central Council broadly co-ordinates and administers many of LBKA’s activities, the trustees meet separately to address matters specifically relating to the charity’s management and regulation.
The trustees recognise their joint responsibility for keeping proper accounting records and preparing financial statements each year. The appended accounts have been prepared on a receipts and payments basis and have been independently examined with the examiner’s report included as part of these financial statements.
Approved by Central Council on 26[th] April 2024 and signed on its behalf by:
Catherine Lake (Treasurer)
…………………………………..
Page 6
Lincolnshire Beekeepers Association
Page 7
## **Lincolnshire Beekeepers Association Receipts and Payments Account Year ending 31 December 2023**
**----- Start of picture text -----**
Notes 2023 2022
2 £ £
Receipts
Donations & grants (inc. Gift Aid) 2,328 2,889
Fundraising receipts 4 26,863 20,619
Members' subscriptions 9 16,822 15,609
Training events 8,702 6,884
Meetings & social events 456 1,115
Sales 14,407 8,321
Bank interest 140 17
Sundry income 1,818 1,722
71,535 57,175
Payments
Fundraising costs 4 22,500 16,631
Subscriptions to BBKA/BDI 11,661 12,074
Bulk purchases for resale 8 13,618 7,017
Meetings & social events 4,031 2,991
Equipment & books 3,616 509
Training & education 2,847 4,647
Quarterly Review & Directory 348 -
Donations & grants 590 1,384
Postage, stationery & bank charges 718 258
Honey shows 1,935 2,379
District apiaries 5,310 4,055
Accounts & Charity Ind. Examination 400 400
Sundries 537 919
68,112 53,263
Net receipts (payments) for the year 3,423 3,912
Cash & bank balances brought forward 73,702 69,790
Cash & bank balances carried forward 77,125 73,702
**----- End of picture text -----**
**Page 7**
## **Lincolnshire Beekeepers Association Statement of Assets and Liabilities Year ending 31 December 2023**
**----- Start of picture text -----**
Notes 2023 2022
£ £
Monetary Assets
Current accounts 63,404 51,261
Deposit accounts 13,313 22,056
Cash 380 385
Total Monetary Assets 77,098 73,702
comprising:
Restricted Funds - -
Unrestricted Funds 77,098 73,702
Total Funds 77,098 73,702
Non-monetary assets
Investment
Shareholding in Beecraft Ltd 6 - -
Fixed assets for the charity's use at
valuation
Equipment costing 7 30,705 26,010
Stock 8 - -
Monetary liabilities
Subscriptions to BBKA/BDI 9 - -
**----- End of picture text -----**
Approved by Central Council on 28[th] April 2023 and signed on its behalf by:
…………………………………………… Chris Arlett-Johnson Vice Chair …………………………………………… Catherine Lake Treasurer
The notes on pages 9 to 10 form part of these accounts.
Registered Charity No. 500360
**Page 8**
## **Lincolnshire Beekeepers Association Notes to the Accounts Year ending 31 December 2023**
## **1 Accounting policies**
## **Basis of preparation of financial statements**
The accounts have been prepared on the receipts and payments basis.
## **Fund accounting**
## **Unrestricted fund**
The unrestricted general fund represents the net income received, which is applied in furtherance of the objects of the charity.
## **Restricted funds**
Restricted funds are funds, which are used in accordance with specific restrictions imposed by funds providers. The aim of any restricted fund is set out in these notes to the accounts.
## **2 Presentation of accounts**
There being no restricted funds received, retained or expended during the current year, the Receipts and Payments Account shows only unrestricted funds.
## **3 Reserves Statement**
|**Unrestricted funds**
Robert Park Legacy
General fund|**Opening**
**balance at**
**01/01/23**
**Receipts**
**Payments**
**Closing**
**balance at**
**31/12/23**
**£**
**£**
**£**
**£**
5,043
79
-
5,123
68,631
71,456
68,112
71,975|
|---|---|
||**73,674**
**71,535**
**68,112**
**77,098**|
A £3.3K legacy from the estate of Robert Park in 2002 was, by decision of an AGM of the charity, topped up to £5,000 and invested in an interest-bearing bank account with the intention of leaving the principal sum untouched. This sum was draw upon in 2018 and reinstated in 2019. There are no restrictions on the use of that money beyond that AGM decision which is thus open to being reversed at a future general meeting.
## **4 Fundraising receipts & costs - annual auction**
Within the fundraising receipts are the proceeds of an annual auction of beekeeping items. These have been shown net of the sums paid to the sellers of the items auctioned, which are consequently excluded from fundraising costs.
|Auction receipts from buyers
less payments to sellers
**Net receipts**|**2023**
**2022**
**£**
**£**
19,697
12,139
15,656
9,783
**4,041**
**2,355**|
|---|---|
**Page 9**
## **Lincolnshire Beekeepers Association Notes to the Accounts Year ending 31 December 2023**
## **5 Payments to Trustees**
No remuneration was paid or payable directly, or indirectly, out of the funds of the charity for the year to any member of the executive committee or to any person or persons known to be connected to them.
## **6 Investment**
The charity owns 59 fully paid shares of £1 in Bee Craft Limited. These shares are held for the charity in the names of nominee shareholders: Mr Daniel Bayes and Mr Graham Carrott. As the shares are not listed, a valuation is impractical.
## **7 Equipment**
As per total valuations provided by districts.
|**Estimated**
**value at**
**31/12/23**
£
30,705|**Estimated**
**value at**
**31/12/22**
£|
|---|---|
||26,010|
## **8 Stock for resale**
Unsold bulk purchases of consumable stock (e.g. feeding or treatment products for bees) for sale to members has not been separately evaluated for the accounts.
## **9 Monetary liabilities**
Subscriptions include monies received in advance for 2024 BBKA membership and insurance. These sums will be paid on to BBKA/BDI in 2024 but have not been separately evaluated for the accounts.
**Page 10**
## **Lincolnshire Beekeepers Association**
## **Charity Independent Examiner’s Report**
Report to the Trustees of Lincolnshire Beekeepers Association on its financial statements for the year ended 31 December 2023 as set out on pages 1 to 10.
## **Respective responsibilities of trustees and independent examiner**
The charity’s trustees are responsible for the preparation of its accounts. The charity’s trustees consider that an audit is not required for this year under section 144(2) of the Charities Act 2011 (‘the Act’) and that an independent examination is needed.
It is my responsibility to:
- examine the accounts under section 145 of the Act;
- follow the procedures laid down in the General Directions given by the Charity Commission under section 145(5)(b) of the Act; and
- state whether particular matters have come to my attention.
## **Basis of independent examiner’s report**
My examination was carried out in accordance with the General Directions given by the Charity Commission. An examination includes a review of the accounting records kept by the charity and a comparison of the accounts presented with those records. It also includes consideration of any unusual items or disclosures in the accounts, and seeking explanations from the trustees concerning any such matters. The procedures undertaken do not provide all the evidence that would be required in an audit. Consequently, I do not express an opinion as to whether the accounts present a ‘true and fair view’ and my report is limited to those matters set out in the statement below.
My examination directly focussed on only the charity’s central accounts and its consolidation of central and district accounts. I have relied upon other independent examiners’ reports for confirmation of the veracity of accounts for each of the charity’s 10 districts, seeking verification only where district returns were unclear or inconsistent with other information seen.
## **Independent examiner’s statement**
This year, no significant matters of concern have come to my attention. This gives me reasonable cause to believe that, in any material respect, the following requirements have been satisfied:
- I. to keep accounting records in accordance with section 130 of the Act, and
- II. to prepare accounts which accord with the accounting records and comply with the accounting requirements of the Act have been met; or
- III. to which, in my opinion, attention should be drawn in order to enable a proper understanding of the accounts to be reached.
Mr B. Gibbon, BSc. (Hons.), ACMA, CGMA
14 April 2024
Page 11